Friday, July 15, 2011

Pope Sixtus V: Every true Bonaventurian must defend Scholasticism

July 15th, Feast
of St. Bonaventure

On
3 May 2010, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the legacy of St. Bonaventure at his
customary Wednesday Audience (this was the first of three audiences which would
be dedicated to the Seraphic Doctor). The Holy Father recalled the memory of
the disciple of St. Francis with great tenderness: “Today I would like to talk
about St Bonaventure of Bagnoregio. I confide to you that in broaching this
subject I feel a certain nostalgia, for I am thinking back to my research as a
young scholar on this author who was particularly dear to me. My knowledge of
him had quite an impact on my formation.”
(See the whole text here)

Together
with St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Bonaventure has come to symbolize the Scholastic
period of theology. Sadly, Scholasticism has come under no small amount of
ridicule in recent days. Some Catholic theologians have gone so far as to claim
that the Church has moved past the “old theology” of the medieval schools and
has adopted a “new theology” for the present day. The proponents of this “new
theology” have the intention of “razing the bastions” – that is, destroying (rather,
dismissing) the traditional distinctions developed by the Scholastic doctors.

Certainly,
any true Bonaventurian (as well as any true Thomist; indeed, any true Catholic)
would abhor such a notion. Below, we reproduce selections from the Bull Triumphantis
Hierusalem (from 1588) of Pope Sixtus V, in which St. Bonaventure is officially
elevated as a Doctor of the Church. In his praise of the Seraphic Doctor, Pope
Sixtux V also promotes the Scholastic theology which St. Bonaventure so well
personified.

[The
text below is entirely from Pope Sixtus V. We apologize for the rather
difficult wording which was common to that age. We have tried to bring attention
to certain points with our emphases.]

St.
Bonaventure declared a Doctor of the Church

Truly
among those most blessed choirs of Saints, whose memory is celebrated by all
the faithful with a merited religious cult, there shines forth in distinguished
splendor the order of holy Doctors eloquently. […] Truly
already among these [doctors], whom the great Lord willed to fill with a
spirit of intelligence, and whom each one has sent forth the utterance of his
wisdom like a shower upon the Church of God, is St.
Bonaventure numbered, as a Confessor, a Pontiff, and a exceptional
Doctor in the same Catholic Church.

Inflamed
in such great sweetness and fervor of divine love, his spirit was so rapt in
God, that already as one introduced into the wine cellar of the Spouse and
drunk with the best wine of charity, he seemed to gaze everywhere upon Jesus
Christ Crucified and Suffering, and to dwell in His wounds. Truly to this
exceptional holiness of life did this man of God join the great praise of
outstanding doctrine, with God so disposing, so that for His glory and the utility
of the Church, he would not only make very great progress in example, but in
word and erudition.

A disciple and teacher of Scholastic
theology

When,
in the study of the Sacred Letters, the reading of the holy Fathers and in the very necessary discipline of Scholastic theology,
having been employed most diligently by Alexander of Hales, the distinguished
theologian of that era, for a brief space of time, with the goodness of
surpassing genius, by assiduous labor, and what is chief of all, with the grace
of the Holy Spirit, who molded him on all sides as a golden vessel for a chosen
honor, he made such progress and arrived at such perfection of doctrine, that
decorated in solemn custom with the distinctions of a Master in Theology in the
frequented lecture hall of Paris, he taught sacred theology publicly in the
same place.

Truly
did he attain such great praise in the gift of interpreting and in the science
of all theology, that the most learned men admired his doctrine and erudition.
And indeed there are extant many, moving and very bright writings of this holy
man, which still are of great utility to the Church and are not mediocre, by
the benefice of God, everyone of which both erudite men, of Our age and ages
past, have read with much fruit and very entirely approved, so great was he in
theology, that they declare him sufficient. For he left
those monuments of his divine genius to those who would come after him, by
which questions, very difficult and involuted with many obscurities, are
explained methodically and in order, straightforwardly and lucidly, with
a great bounty of the best arguments, the truth of the Catholic Faith is
illustrated, pernicious errors and profane heresies are overthrown, and the
pious minds of the faithful are admirably inflamed to the love of God and the
desire of the celestial fatherland.

For
there was in St. Bonaventure something preeminent and
unique, so that he stood out not only in subtlety of arguing, in
facility of teaching, in cleverness of defining, but he excelled in a certain
divine strength of thoroughly stirring up souls. For in
writing with the greatest erudition he so conjoined an equal ardor of piety,
that he would move the reader by teaching and it would sink into the recesses
of the soul, and then he would prick the heart with certain seraphic stings and
it would pour forth with a wonderful sweetness of devotion.

The need for Scholastic
theology in times of doctrinal confusion

The
utility of the universal Church moves Us, which can be always more and more
richly captivated by the erudition of such a Doctor, especially when the
ambushes and the diabolical machinations of heretics,
by which they oppose most vehemently in this sad age that sacred theology,
which is called Scholastic, admonish Us greatly, that We should retain,
explain, and propagate this same [Scholastic] theology, as something which
nothing can be more fruitful for the Church of God.

For
with the divine gift of Him, who alone gives the spirit of knowledge (scientia)
and wisdom and understanding, and who furnishes His Church throughout the
lifetimes of generations, as is needed, with new benifits, and who provides Her
with new supports, there has been discovered by Our
ancestors, most wise men, Scholastic theology, which by two Doctors
glorious above all, the angelic Saint Thomas,
and the seraphic Saint Bonaventure, the most
brilliant professors in this capacity, and first among those, who have been
registered among the number of the Saints, with excellent genius, assiduous
study, great labors and vigils have refined and decorated it, and have passed
it on, to those who would come after, optimally arranged and in many ways very
clearly explained.

Truly
in these last days, in which already there has come those dangerous times
described by the Apostle, and the blasphemous, proud, seductive men who advance
to what is worse still, erring and sending others into error, this [Scholastic theology] is necessary to sensibly confirm
the dogmas of the Catholic Faith and confute heresies.

And
the state of affairs is such, that the judges are the very enemies themselves
of the truth, by whom Scholastic theology has become dreadful to the greatest
degree, who scarcely understand, by that apt and inner connected coherence of
things and causes, in that order and arrangement, as by the training of
soldiers in fighting, with those lucid definitions and distinctions, by that
firmness of arguments and the sharpest disputations, that light is
distinguished from shadows, and the true from the false, and their mendacity,
involuted with many deceptions and fallacies, like a vestment borne away, is
brought to light and stripped bare.

In as much as therefore as these men [i.e. the heretics] begin to
fight and overturn this most fortified citadel of Scholastic theology, so much
more does it befit us to defend this unconquered defense of the Faith, and both to conserve and keep safe the
inheritance of Our fathers, and to embellish, as much as we can, the keenest
defenders of the truth with merited honors.

8
comments:

Anonymous
said...

I love St. Bonaventure and would love to read his books but I have no idea where to find them so that I might borrow them.

His friendship with St. Thomas Aquinas is, for me, the most poignant friendship from among our saints. And I always think how good God is to have given them each other - a kindred soul is hard to find and a great gift and blessing in this life.

An explanation of how Scholasticism arose can be found in the book entitled Church History by Fr. John Laux. A very interesting read that tells how Scholasticism and Mysticism 'go hand in hand'.Your article furthur explained to me the role it plays in refuting heresies. Thank you Reginaldus.Bob

Scholastic theology is great and has served the Church well. However, it is not to be revered to the point where it leads to discounting Magisterial teachings that have come after the Middle Ages. This can potentially lead to idolatry or even border on heresy.

However, I don't know of too many cases where the great scholastic doctors (i.e. St. Thomas and St. Bonaventure) have taught things that have later been condemned.There is, of course, the Immaculate Conception (which both Doctors rejected) and a few points about the sacraments (like whether ordination to priesthood is at the prayer of ordination or the handing over of the instruments) ... but very few scholastic points have been rejected by the Magisterium of the Church.

In any case, if we want to understand the current Magisterium, we will have to know St. Thomas Aquinas (and, of course, Bonaventure) very well -- the Angelic Doctor is by far the most cited author in the Catechism.

In any case ... I hope that my example will serve well in this regard ... I cite constantly from the Fathers (esp. Augustine), the Scholastics (esp. Thomas), the counter-reformation theologians (esp. Cornelius a' Lapide), and the Catechism.I see all these in a great harmony!

Generally speaking, it is the rejection of the Scholastics that leads to heresy, not their promotion!Peace to you. +

You can find many translations of Bonaventure's works for sale from the Franciscan Institute at St. Bonaventure University (it should come up easily enough on a google search). They have translated some of his more famous works, such as the Journey of the mind in God and his disputed questions on the Trinity, and I think they have also started translating his biblical commentaries.

Veronica, I know what you mean about their friendship. I like to imagine the joy of their respective 'Holy Fathers', Francis and Dominic, who were also fast friends, seeing the friendship between their two 'sons'!